Since gaining political independence in the 1960s, African Governments have made several efforts to exploit the potential of intra-African trade for development, the most recent being the renewed political commitment by African leaders at the African Union summit in January 2012 to boosting intra-African trade and to fast tracking the establishment of a continental free-trade area.

The report argues that for African countries to reap developmental gains from intra-African trade and regional integration, they will need to place the building of productive capacities and domestic entrepreneurship at the heart of the policy agenda for boosting intraregional trade.

Private sector dynamism must be unlocked if African countries are to benefit from the opportunities that regional integration and intra-African trade provides.